By Solomon Gumah, GNA
Tamale, June 14, GNA – Ummy Relief Foundation, a humanitarian organisation working to promote sustainable development, has embarked on a sensitisation campaign with traders in the Tamale Metropolis to deepen their understanding on the effects of indiscriminate disposal of plastics.
The campaign formed part of a week-long activity to increase public awareness on plastics and solicit stakeholders’ support towards reducing indiscriminate disposal of plastics in open places.
The event, dubbed: “Eco-Plastic Week Celebration”, was organised in partnership with the University for Development Studies (UDS), Rotary Club, Eco Plastic Soup, Technology without Borders among other partners.
Some of the activities put in place to mark the celebration included social media education, sharing educational posts such as photos and videos about plastics reduction initiatives, webinar on plastics, featuring key stakeholders to provide insights on waste management and how to combat plastic pollution.
The celebration also included radio and television roadshows to engage the audience on the need to spread the message on plastics among other activities.
Participants visited shops and other traders in the open space with inscriptions on their placards, some of which read “End plastics now”, ” Choose planet over plastics”, “Choose eco-friendly initiatives”, “Marine life matters”, “End plastics now” among others.
Mr. Abdul-Rashid Wumpini Alhassan, Executive Director, Ummy Relief Foundation, during the sensitisation exercise with the traders in Tamale, underscored need for intensified advocacy and collective efforts to minimise the rampant use of plastics, which posed serious threat to the environment and livelihoods.
He said the campaign targeted the marketplaces because most of the plastic pollution cases were mostly recorded at the various market centres.
He urged members of the public to prioritise the use of one sack to buy items in the market, instead of buying items in multiple polythene bags, which ended up being littered around the field and water bodies.
Madam Rashida Mohammed, a trader at the Aboabo Market, during the campaign, told the Ghana News Agency that it was important for the city authorities to enforce by-laws on pollution to ensure strict compliance.
Alhassan Amida, another trader, called on Assemblies to provide more dustbins at the market centres to ensure plastics were not disposed of indiscriminately.
GNA